Back to Humanity
by kaliflower
Summary: In season 6 the Troika decide to mess with Spike but their plans go haywire, as per usual.
1. Default Chapter

Back to Humanity Chapter 1  
  
By Kalifower  
  
Disclaimer: All the characters and settings and everything else is purely owned by Joss and Co.  
  
Comments: This takes place somewhere in the beginning of season 6. After Life Serial but before the musical. The Troika decide to mess with Spike but their plans go haywire. Don't you just love the way the Evil Trio can cause so much trouble, so badly?  
  
  
  
Three young men were watching the monitor with gleeful abandon, replaying tapes recorded the night before from their newly installed cameras. "It looks like the Slayer has a friend. Why'd she want to be friends with a vampire?" Warren said leering at the screen.  
  
"Maybe she's lonely." Andrew said, "Besides, he helps her all the time."  
  
Warren grunted back at Andrew. "Well she seems to spend a lot of time with him. Perhaps that's how we should distract the Slayer: through him." The three boys looked back at the monitor. Their last attempt to distract and test her had been a bust, so they had decided to attack her through her friends. The problem was she didn't seem to be spending a lot of time with any of them. They had vetoed attacking her little sister because, as Andrew had pointed out, who cares about siblings? So they had been watching her, waiting to see who would be the best to attack and it was looking more like Spike. It would distract the Slayer, and if they could take Spike down, then they would get rid of one of the few effective people she had working with her. What they didn't know was how, exactly, they were going to get rid of Spike.  
  
"Well, we could kill him by staking him, beheading him, or lighting him on fire." Jonathan said counting the ways to kill a vampire on his fingers.  
  
"I don't really wanna get that close to a vampire." Andrew said and perked up. "I could conjure a demon to go after him."  
  
"He fights demons, dangerous ones, for fun. I don't think that's going to stop him." Jonathan said looking at Andrew.  
  
Warren continued. "What we need is a weaker Spike. Too bad he isn't like the rest of her friends, they'd be much easier to take out with a demon."  
  
They sat around for a few minutes. Andrew didn't have any ideas besides the conjuring up a demon, so he started to make Return of the Jedi's Hans Solo flirt with A New Hope's Leia. They were just about to start kissing when Jonathan spoke up. "So why don't we make him more like the rest of the Slayer's gang. We could make him human. I came across a spell that might do that on one of my wizarding boards a few months back. The outcome is kinda iffy, but it looks like it would do the trick." He started browsing the computer, searching for information. Looking up from the screen at the rest of the Troika he added, "it would be much easier to kill him then."  
  
"Oo, and then we could conjure a demon and send it after him."  
  
"What's with you and conjuring demons?" Jonathan paused. "Anyway, wouldn't that be overly complicated and elaborate?"  
  
Warren arched his fingers together began. "I don't think so, Wicket. One, because we're bad guys, overly elaborate is what we do. I mean, come on, we used a freeze ray. Two, not only would the human Spike create confusion with the Slayer and the rest of them; but he wouldn't be able to fight back. Random death by demon would be easily attributed to living in Sunnydale."  
  
"Fine," Jonathan said as his eyes lowered to the floor. "I think I have everything that we need to do it, which is good because I'm starting to get nervous going into the Magic Box and overnight shipping costs too much."  
  
"Great get started, if we can do this tonight, our plans for domination of Sunnydale will finally really begin."  
  
"Dun, dun, duuunnnn!" Andrew and Jonathan sang. Warren rolled his eyes.  
  
  
  
  
  
Spike walked into the front room of the Magic Box shortly after sunset that evening. He had been antsy all day. He could barely sleep; he wanted a good fight, whether or it was a demon or a Scooby was unimportant. Xander looked up and scowled at the vampire. Spike decided that perhaps a fight with that particular Scooby would be fun. Then he could go on patrol, and fight a demon or two. The night was looking good for him.  
  
"Oh, look whose strutting in acting like he belongs here," Xander said.  
  
Spike eyed Xander who was cuddling with the ex-demon of his. "I'm just here to help Buffy, not that you would know anything about that, since you're usually on the receiving end." He noticed Buffy roll her eyes. Yes, tonight would be good.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked.  
  
He gave her the most honest and annoying look he could and started, "I already ans." He was stopped by a painful, cramping feeling in his stomach. He felt ill. Which was odd, because he hadn't felt ill in over one hundred years, but apparently it was like riding a bloody bicycle. He doubled over in pain gripping his stomach. "Ooooo." The night was suddenly taking a turn for the worse; he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the stupid Slayer and her stupid sidekicks.  
  
"Spike got a wittle tummy-ache." Xander said in a baby voice so sick that it even Anya screwed up her face in disgust. "Musta had some bad blood in the fridge tonight, huh? Didn't you check the expiration date, dead boy?"  
  
"Shut up, Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooo," now this was turning into more then just bad stomach cramps. What the hell was going on with him? He managed to glance up and noticed that the Scoobies were starting to look a little worried, but mostly annoyed. Great, stay annoyed, he thought, please. He didn't want any sodding sympathy. Well, maybe from Buffy, in bed, naked. He almost smiled at the thought, but the pain was growing worse and even a sympathetic, nude and sweaty Buffy wasn't enough to distract him.  
  
"Um.Spike are you alright?" It was the little one. It was nice that she was concerned. He hated to admit how big the soft spot for her had gotten this summer; but he was the Big Bad, and the Big Bad didn't show weakness or need concern.  
  
Spike realized that he was going to lose consciousness soon, in fact everything was getting very dark and fuzzy. He was waiting to feel light headed and dizzy, but it wasn't coming. Instead he felt heavy and tired. Then everything was getting very bright, which was strange. He'd passed out from pain, or from being drunk, enough to know that the world got dark, then there was some relief from everything, then you woke up and it was unbearably bright. He was pretty sure that he hadn't gone through the "brief respite from the world" phase. The bright light faded and the pain stopped. He had fallen to the floor.  
  
Looking up at the shocked faces all around him, he squinted at the witches, "was that some kind of 'stop being so damned annoying' spell?" He was waiting for some reaction even a hand up would have been better then their slack jawed expressions. When he looked closer he realized that they weren't looking at him, so much as right next to him. It was then that he noticed there was someone mere inches away. He counted the heads staring down at him, they were all there, which meant that whoever was lying next to him was not one of them. He listened to the heartbeat, and didn't recognize it.  
  
Who the hell could.He turned his head and looked at the man. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Spike stood up quickly. This was bad, worse then he could ever imagine. The Scoobies were looking at him, then at the man on the floor and then at him again. In fact, if they kept looking between the two men, they were probably going to make themselves dizzy. He just stood there staring at the man, at the Scoobies, at the wall, at everything. He felt like a deer in the proverbial headlights.  
  
The man on the ground moaned, and rolled over slightly. Without opening his eyes he said, "Sarah, would you please fetch Maman. I feel ill again. Perhaps I am not as well as the doctor had thought I was. I had so hoped this constitutional in our park would help." He groaned a little more and opened his eyes, "Sarah." they widened, "oh, dear, where is my sister? Where have you ruffians taken me? If you've h-h-hurt Sarah." He looked over at Spike and gasped.  
  
Everyone stared. It was all they could think to do; there were no words that could really express the feeling, except perhaps, "uhhhh" and the more eloquent "this is a total wiggings." Spike could just hear the Scoobies mental variations on those themes, and almost smiled when he compared it to how that man on the floor would have phrased those two feelings. "Oh, dear," sprang to mind, but he had already said that hadn't he?  
  
Shaken out of his reverie by the thought of comparing the man to the Scoobies he said, "'lo, mate." To compensate for his double's higher-class accent Spike tried to make his even lower class, skimming the bottom of England's socio-economic ladder. He felt like he was going to hyperventilate, and he didn't even have to breathe. He felt nervous tension building in him. He had been antsy before showing up at the store tonight. Now, he didn't know what he felt. He wanted to hit something, kill something; that was always an easy to define feeling. But he was having others he hadn't felt in so long he didn't know how to define them. Flitting on the edges of his mind were embarrassment and shame, at all his deep secrets being revealed to people who already hated him.  
  
Unfortunately, before Spike could continue to speak the shy witch spoke up, "Spike he really looks like you."  
  
"No, well I mean yes," Willow added. "But um.not exactly. He looks like Spike would if you crossed him with a little Giles and a lot of Wesley." Several heads were nodding in agreement. In response to the unasked question Willow spoke to Tara, "he was that other watcher I told you about, who was even more uptight than Giles ever was and snotty."  
  
"Hey!" Spike glared at the two witches. He shouldn't be defending this man, but he couldn't have people ever call him snotty. Even if it was a him that had died 120 years ago.  
  
"Raise your hand if this is one of the weirdest moments you never thought you'd see." Xander said raising his hand high in the air. Slowly, everyone raised their hands. They were having a little difficulty dealing with two Spikes, especially since one of them did and didn't look very much like Spike.  
  
Obviously confused by the behavior around him William began, "please, what have you done with Sarah. She's just an innocent, there's not need to harm her. Father will pay anything. Please." The man who looked incredibly like Spike was beginning to cry.  
  
"We're not going to hurt your sister," Spike said, his face was almost gentle, but his fists were clenched. "She's not even here, she's probably safe at home with your Mum wondering where her big brother disappeared too." Please just stop crying, he thought. The Scoobies did not need to see him, any version of him, crying. "We're not going to hurt you either. You just, uh, showed up here." William began to calm down, his breath slowing and becoming more even.  
  
"Yup, just pop, and you're here. Lying on the floor next to Spike." Anya added. "You're double looks like he's going to hyperventilate, Spike." Turning to Willow she said, "Once you've seen half your friends have doubles of one sort or another, this just doesn't seem so confusing anymore."  
  
"Anya, this is serious." Willow glared at her.  
  
"I'm being serious. I wish Xander's double had stuck around for a little longer. That would have been nice, the sex, I mean." William blushed and everyone fell silent.  
  
Xander broke the quiet. "Spike's been split into two halves of himself. Maybe like demon Spike," he pointed to Spike, "and human Spike," he pointed to William.  
  
"That doesn't account for the different clothes, Xander. And we don't know if the young man who looks like Spike is indeed human." Giles looked at the boy as if he couldn't believe that he could get any more stupid. Seems the old man had underestimated the young git, again.  
  
"Plus, Spike is acting nice to him, so it couldn't be pure demon." Dawn added to the confusing conversation.  
  
"Hey, I'm not being nice." Spike stood up and moved away from William. "I just don't want him crying around here, acting like the stupid git he is." He looked over to his double and wished he hadn't said those words, because the human was starting to cry again. Bullocks, he had been so touchy as a human. He looked over to Buffy, but she just looked confused and distant, like she didn't want to be here dealing with this.  
  
Willow stepped up to fill in for Buffy's commanding absence. She knelt by William, who was still on the bloody floor. "What's your name?"  
  
He sniffed and looked into Red's eyes, "William Elliot Fenton."  
  
The witch's eyes looked up to the group and looked to Spike. He was trying to remain as passive as possible. He knew that she at least had a clue to who this was. He wished he could have a cig, but someone would probably stake him if he tried to light up in the store.  
  
"Um, I hate to say this, but do you know what day it is?"  
  
William's eyes clouded over with confusion. He was beginning to look around, and Spike could guess what the other him was starting to think. Along the lines of: where's everyone's clothes gone? And some other prudish nonsense. "T-t-Tuesday, I believe." He swallowed hard. Apparently, he was trying to hang onto denial.  
  
"No, that's not what I meant." She sighed and began again, "What's the date, the year?"  
  
Sinking further into denial William replied, "What is wrong with your voices? Are some of you Americans? I met a few last year during the Season, it was my first in Town. Of course I couldn't stay long, I was still at Oxford at the time. They were quite charming, genteel and with the most intriguing accents." This was ridiculous, Spike thought, are some of you Americans? God, he was such a tosser. William whimpered and that broke Spike.  
  
"What's the sodding year?"  
  
Shaken and startled William gaped and then answered, "1878." Oh, God, he was so young, Spike thought. That was two years before. Spike's mind flashed back to the night he was turned. Then he remembered where William must have been moments before he arrived in the Magic Box. The illness had been one of the big events in his human life he still remembered, but almost dying did that to a bloke. It was shortly after that long illness, and he had been recovering. Sarah, his sister, and he had gone walking in the family park for the afternoon. The Doctor had told him that it would be good to strengthen his weakened lungs with constitutionals. Halfway through the afternoon, he had felt too weak to continue. Sarah had gone back to the house to get some of the servants to carry him back to his bed. He had weird fever dreams while she was gone and shortly before she arrived with the servants he had awoken. William had felt weak and humiliated for the rest of the day. After that he had heard some of the servants teasing him behind his back, and shortly returned to Oxford to complete his degree  
  
"Oh, dear." Giles began wiping his glasses. Spike glanced at the man and hated the look of pity and confusion on his face. He wanted to growl, to hit something and the Watcher wiping is glasses, again, was starting to annoy the demon. Spike had left William behind when he was turned. He never wanted to deal any of his human life after he had left it. It had taken years to deny everything in him that was that wanker. He had changed his accent, his style, his attitude and anything that he couldn't kill in himself (his education, his poetry, his love, a voice whispered in his head) he had hid from the world. Now here was the man he thought was gone forever. This was so bloody unfair.  
  
"Who the fuck did this? Bloody chip or no, I'm going to kill something and I want it to be the person who did this." He walked over to the witches. "Did you do this. Was this some sort of spell gone wrong like when the Watcher went blind and Buffy and I.Did you do this."  
  
"No," Tara began hesitantly and then grew stronger as she glanced over at Willow, who looked just as confused as her. "We didn't do this, it must have been something else."  
  
"I feel magic, so it was probably a spell, but we should probably check." Willow said matter-of-factly. Her face softened. "Spike is this who we think it is?"  
  
Spike hated to see the girl's face look at him all soft and understanding. "What does it bloody look like? Of course it is. Bloody stupid hair, glasses and stupid whimpering voice." He hadn't meant to say all that, to sound so mad, so scared, so out of control. This was too much, and he didn't want to handle it. He felt the demon in him banging on its cages.  
  
William slowly stood up, teetering back and forth a little, trying to find his grounding. He looked at the profile of Spike, "you look familiar, have we met? We look as if we are related." Spike raised his eyebrow at the boy. William grabbed his head a little and his eyes rolled back in their sockets. He looked like he was struggling for consciousness, and Spike knew that the last of that illness and the shock of what was going on was too much for him. The vampire turned and caught his double as he fell. He picked William up and placed him on the table and flung his duster on the corner of the shelf nearest him. He began looking though the inner pockets of William's jacket for the smelling salts that he carried around with him that summer.  
  
"Wow, dead boy, can't even stop from ripping yourself off. That is so lame."  
  
"How bloody stupid are you?" He found the small vial and uncorked it holding it up for the Scoobies to see. "This is what I was looking for." He waved the vial under William's nose and the young man began wheezing and coughing. He leaned over and whispered into William's ear, "Just relax. You'll feel better if you do." 


	2. Chapter 2

Back to Humanity Chapter 2  
  
By Kalifower  
  
Disclaimer: All the characters and settings and everything else is purely owned by Joss and Co.  
  
Comments: This takes place somewhere in the beginning of season 6. After Life Serial but before the musical. The Troika decide to mess with Spike but their plans go haywire. Don't you just love the way the Evil Trio can cause so much trouble, so badly?  
  
Thanks: To everyone who reviewed me. I hope you like this chapter. Only one more to go after this and it'll be up next week.  
  
  
  
In Warren's Mom's basement the trio had finally managed to locate Spike on their monitor. They had expected him to be in his crypt this early in the evening and had panicked when he wasn't in. None of them could agree where to look next and they had ended up wrestling on the ground for the remote control. Warren had won and had clicked over the magic box. All they could see was Spike carrying someone to the table in the back of the room.  
  
"It doesn't look like he's lost any of his strength." Andrew pointed out.  
  
"Shut up, Andrew." Jonathan looked heart broken. He was sure the spell had worked. He was pretty sure that he had done everything correctly, and as the spell had said it should bring "the past to the present and confront the evil fiend with his past self." Which meant that Spike should be feeling the weight of his past crimes as a vampire, and become human. He hadn't gotten a spell this wrong in a few years; it was really upsetting.  
  
"No, he's right Jonathan. He looks as dead as ever, and strong to." Warren paused. The body that Spike was laying down looked vaguely familiar, but it wasn't any of the Scoobies. Just when he was going to get a good look at it, Spike flung his jacket over the camera. "I knew we should have put more camera's in the Magic Box." Warren turned off the screen. "Well we'll just start the second phase of the plan. At least we can cause a little chaos at the stupid store, and maybe we'll get lucky and hurt the Slayer."  
  
"Uh, Warren?"  
  
"Yes, Andrew?"  
  
"Um.we won't be able to do the summoning spell until tomorrow night, on the new moon."  
  
"Argggg." Warren looked around for something of Andrew's to hurt, but thought better of it. "Fine, we'll wait until tomorrow."  
  
  
  
"What's wrong with him," Tara asked.  
  
"Time travel, I'd suspect." Spike glared but she ducked her head. "And why aren't we doing something about that. Come on peoples, we need to find out why he's here and send him back."  
  
"Wow, I would have never guessed," Buffy said ignoring Spike and looking at the resting body in front of her.  
  
"Never guessed what?" He asked suspiciously.  
  
"You.Never pictured you like this. You know, wearing enough tweed to make Giles nervous, and the glasses, and the...everything" she waved her arm at William.  
  
"Well it didn't seem so bloody important at the time. Plus, it's not like I don't have an image to maintain."  
  
"Right the Big Bad. Somehow I saw you more as Artful Dodger, less as Professor Higgins." She paused. "What am I saying? I never pictured you human."  
  
He was so bloody exasperated. Shouldn't Buffy be fawning all over William, shouldn't she love the ponce? He was just as much sweetness and light as the rest of her friends. Instead, she was ignoring William and him. He narrowed his eyes at the Slayer.  
  
"Spike," she began, noticing his murderous glare.  
  
"Oh," William started to sit up on the table. Spike deflated and his attention moved to his younger self. He felt a responsibility to take care of him, and he hated it. Wasn't it enough that he would die for Buffy and the bit? Wasn't it enough that if she asked he would defend these damn sidekicks of hers until his end, as he had all summer? No, now he had someone else that he had to protect. He was a monster, since when did that come with having responsibility?  
  
"Arggg!" Spike shouted and threw up his hands. No matter how much he wanted to take care of the annoying bugger he had been, he couldn't. He wasn't the kind of man that could. Monster that could. Whatever.  
  
Spike stormed out of the shop into the training room and began to punch the bag. His night out with the Slayer patrolling had busted. He punched the bag. His fight with Xander had dissolved into nothing. He gave a swift roundhouse, swinging the bag on its chain. And worse then anything he could ever imagine, the whole bloody slayer gang was in the Magic Box with all the parts of him that he tried to hide from everyone. He let loose on the bag with a rapid series of alternating jabs.  
  
The boy had no cocky attitude!  
  
Punch.  
  
No swagger!  
  
Punch.  
  
And no confidence! All he had was his poetry!  
  
Oh, God, his poetry. Spike had to stop him from sharing the damned poetry. The bag was left swinging as he ran back into the shop. Dawn and Tara were caring for William, while the rest of the bunch stood by the counter talking.  
  
Spike ran over to William, Dawn and Tara. "Right loves, I'll take over from here." He swept them away with his arms. Turning to his double he said: "Alright, William, have you had an urges to write anything down?"  
  
The poet looked stunned. "What? Oh, heavens no. I've been so overwhelmed that composing has been the furthest from my mind."  
  
"Good!" Spike lowered his voice, no need for the Scoobies to overhear anything. "They're all so uncouth, they think poetry is a waste of time."  
  
"Oh." William looked wounded. "May I impose and ask a question of you?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I was wondering where am I? Why do you look so much like me? And why does everyone here dress and speak so queerly?"  
  
"You mean they haven't told you? I thought they'd jump at the opportunity to ruin our good name. I am you. This is your future." William looked disbelieving. "Really, mate. In a few of your years you'll meet the woman of your dreams and she'll give you a gift. It makes you strong and powerful and immortal. So here I am, helping these people, who fight the baddies."  
  
"This is like some fantastic penny dreadful. I can't believe this." Spike smiled and turned around to leave. "I have one more question." Spike winced and faced William. "If this is the future, then how exactly did I get here?"  
  
"Magic, most likely. That's what I'm going to talk to the rest of the gang about." Spike walked over the meeting and acting loud and chummy. "So how are we coming on the William situation?"  
  
Everyone immediately became suspicious. Why did they always act so weird when he tried to be friendly?  
  
"The William situation?" Buffy said.  
  
Giles cut her off before she could continue, "We were actually hoping that we could ask you..."  
  
Spike held up his hands interrupting the older looking man. "I have no idea why he's here, Rupert. One minute I was waiting to go on patrol with Buffy, the next blinding pain and then I woke up with him lying beside me."  
  
"Odd." Giles paused. "Tara and Willow, do you think you could find out if there was a spell used?"  
  
"Oh, you could use that spell that I did last year to find out if Mom was under some sort of magical attack." Buffy said.  
  
"Good idea." Turning to the witches he added, "let's see if that works. There aren't too many time travel spells so if it's magic then we will have an idea where to start."  
  
Willow nodded and went to the balcony to look for the information on the spell. Grabbing a book she came down stairs and whispered something to Tara. Both women went into the training room.  
  
"Buffy and Spike why don't you go on patrol like you were originally planning. I think we can take care of William while you're out."  
  
As much as he wanted to stay with William to make sure that he didn't do anything stupid, Spike needed to go out and fight. "Good idea." He walked over to the shelf and grabbed his coat, meeting up with Buffy. Unnoticed, he knocked over a small vase with a camera hidden inside. She scowled at him and walked out the door in front of him.  
  
  
  
Buffy was suspicious; Spike was not acting like himself. Not that having your human self visit from the past wasn't cause for you to act a little weird, but his moods were swinging out of control, more then she had ever seen before. Usually, he was annoying and always acting cooler-than-thou. Sometimes, more recently, he acted nice and almost human. But today in the shop, he had gone from being so mad that she thought she was going to have to fight him, to scary helpful. She was way weirded out.  
  
They were quiet while on patrol. Spike looked angry, which meant that he was likely to be looking for a fight. Buffy hoped that they found some vamps soon, or some other demon. Whenever he was in moods like this, and his attention was on her, he would start to pick a fight. She was not in the mood to deal with him. She heard a slight shuffling and turned to face Spike. He had heard it too and they went to investigate the noise.  
  
Behind a small grove to trees was a group of four people. If this hadn't been a graveyard in Sunnydale, and she hadn't been the Slayer then she might have thought they were human, but her common sense and that slight tingle in her gut told her that they were vampires.  
  
"What are a group of nasties like you doing out on a night like this?" Spike sauntered out behind the trees that were hiding Buffy and him. Buffy rolled her eyes in exasperation. Spike had just ruined a nice, easy kill.  
  
The vamps took one look at Spike and the Slayer and ran. Well, at least they were smart. It gave her a happy when vampires saw her and ran; it meant that she was doing her job. Of course, the Buffy that these may have known might have been the bot that replaced her this summer. Spike snarled and chased after the vamps. Jeez, he really was just itching for a fight.  
  
She ran off after the vampires and caught up with the group shortly after Spike had. He was already in the thick of the fight. He had just staked the first one he caught and was fighting the other three all at once. She got behind one that was dodging a high kick Spike had just aimed towards him and Buffy staked his back. That left two more. Before she could move towards the others Spike staked the one behind him and snapped his arms up to the neck of the burly one in front of him. Moving quickly he grabbed the big vampire by the neck and twisted his head away from the body.  
  
"Ewww." Buffy scrunched her nose.  
  
"Sorry I was too crude for your delicate sensibilities Slayer." He raised narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to one side. "Perhaps you'd prefer Wimpy William."  
  
"The who.what? What the hell are you talking about Spike?"  
  
"William, the twit back at the magic shop right now. My human self in all his tweedy glory."  
  
"I knew who you were talking about. Why would I want to patrol with him? What the hell is wrong with you tonight? You're acting like, well I was going to say annoying, but you're always annoying so maybe there's no problem there."  
  
"Annoying?" Changing the subject he added, "I didn't see you helping much with those vamps I just dusted. Just standing around and watching me." He leered at her, "like what you see?"  
  
"Oh, gross Spike, I couldn't do much else but watch since 'Mr. Likes to Fight' basically killed them all single handed." She stopped and thought for a second, "not that I'm actually complaining about not having to fight." She was calming down again; she felt her mind returning to her gray calm. "Whatever, I just don't care Spike."  
  
He looked into her eyes and she thought she saw fear in them. What was he so afraid of? "Sick of the fight already?" She wasn't exactly sure which fight he was referencing. Pacing around Spike continued, "It's just that the damn fool that I was, is hanging out with the Scoobies. I can't stand it!" He had that wild look about him again, like he wanted to kill something. She felt her body tense and she looked away. When she looked back he was leaning against a gravestone, his whole body slumped in defeat. "I hated myself then, and I hate myself now, just at the moment the self I hate is in the third person.  
  
"He's such a git, I was such a git. I've tried so hard not to be him for so long. After I was turned I realized how I had wasted all 26 years of my life. I was damned certain that I wasn't going to waste my unlife in the same way. Seeing him here is like seeing all the things you hate about yourself right in front of you. He's so weak and.."  
  
She cut him off because she didn't want to deal with a Spike-rant. "Well, yeah, he's kinda weak, but you said yourself he should just be getting over a long, bad cold or something. Everyone is weak after stuff like that. It's just been too long since you were sick." Why she was comforting Spike, she had no clue.  
  
She continued, "William seems nice in a stuffy, British-y way. And it's not going to change anyone's opinion of you. Like Dawn, she already likes you and was protective of William and Xander hates you and pretty much ignores William. It all works out." She stopped for a moment, "I guess not that Xander ignoring William is of the good, but you know what I mean." She saw him smile weakly. It was so weird; they were having a conversation.  
  
She smiled a little back at him. "Come on, if you're still in a fighty mood, I'll let you stake the next vamp we come across."  
  
"I can think of better ways to burn off extra energy, Slayer."  
  
"God, Spike! You are such a pig!"  
  
  
  
William was scared and confused, but at least he had tea. He took the mug from the older gentleman. He still could not believe that all this was happening. Considering the long illness he was recovering from, he was convinced that this was a dream. A very elaborate dream about the future. He was disturbed by the apparent lack of dress and informality that people had here in the future, or in his hallucination. The men were not so appallingly dressed as the women. It was odd perhaps, and certainly eccentric, but it was still breeches and a shirt. But the women were also wearing breeches. He had heard about it, and seen it last Season in London with the Suffragettes, but this was obviously normal dress. It was all so tight and revealing. It made him feel a bit uncomfortable and he was amazed that the other men in the room did not seem to care that the women were wearing such revealing outfits. The only woman who was dressed near modestly was the cherubic blonde who touted herself a witch. William found her quite beautiful with the shy, soft features of a doe and hair like soft moonlight on the moor. Or what he imagined moonlight would look like on a moor since he had never actually seen one. He blinked away his thoughts. The illness must have shook loose a more vivid and queer imagination in him to imagine of such things.  
  
"So, uh, William, what do you do?" The dark hair young man said. William believed that he had been called Xander earlier. Such a strange name. He felt ill and wanted to lie down, but he had been asked a question and was loath to prove that he was a vulgarian to his future/dream self's friends.  
  
"Do? Do you mean what is my profession?  
  
"Yeah that's what I said." Turning to Anya Xander said, "he's doing that thing, you know, that Giles does, with the words."  
  
"It's called speaking honey," Anya said non-committally dusting some of the display shelves around her.  
  
"My older brother has recently joined the family firm. My father and him are lawyers in Fenton and Son's, one of the largest law firms in England." He said proudly, "I am still in school, but had to leave last semester because of my illness. I should be able to return to Oxford this fall and complete my degree."  
  
The older man, Giles, choked on the tea he was drinking spilling it down the front of his shirt. As he walked away to clean it off William was sure he heard the man muttering something like, "bloody Oxford! And he never lifts a finger to help with book research! I should just stake him now."  
  
"Did I upset the gentleman, Mr. Giles, I believe?"  
  
"The who? Giles? I can't believe that Spike is calling Giles a gentleman. I mean not that he isn't, but still this is Spike." Shaking his head Xander said, "today is even more Twilight Zone then normal for Sunnydale."  
  
"I remember Rod Sterling. He was a pretty powerful warlock, and a great writer. That show was very popular with demons, those who had TV's at least."  
  
"The Twilight Zone was written by a warlock?" Xander paused. "You know, it actually explains a lot."  
  
The redheaded young lady glared at the couple, "don't pay any attention to them. You seem so different then the Spike that we know."  
  
"I have noticed that he is much more brusque then his upbringing would recommend. Perhaps it's because he's a champion?"  
  
"Wait a second, champion?" Xander said. "Did he tell you that he was a champion? Of what, vampires everywhere?" This caused even more confusion for William. Of what was the young man speaking?  
  
"P-p-pardon?"  
  
"Xander," the redhead whispered. "Let him think whatever he wants about Spike, we don't need to complicate things right now."  
  
"But Willow, he told himself," Xander grimaced at the phrase, "that he was a champion, and I'm pretty sure that William thinks he spends the next hundred years of his existence as a pretty good guy and not a murderer."  
  
William's eyes went wide with horror. "M-m-murderer?"  
  
"Xander!" Willow turned her eyes towards Tara and silently pleaded for help. The other witch came to the rescue.  
  
"William, uh, Spike is a sort of champion now, but he wasn't the best of, ah, people in the past. In fact, he's done some really horrible things. But now he's trying to be a better person. He helps us fight the bad guys." Willow glared at Xander before he could jump in and he sat back down.  
  
"Yes," Anya spoke up. "People can do horrible things in their past, or your future, and be forgiven. Look at me, I maimed people with vengeance for over a thousand years and now I help the good guys fight demons like I used to be. Although, this is a lot more stressful then being a demon, and without the good benefits package, which is why I had to learn to invest so wisely." As if to reassure herself, she walked over to the register and began counting her money.  
  
"But I'm good now?" William asked.  
  
"Well, you are when it really counts, although you make some mistakes." Tara smiled. "You try very hard, especially for Buffy and Dawn."  
  
A sudden warm smile broke on his lips, he understood why his dream/future self was attempting to reform. "I fight for the love of a lady?" It was horribly romantic and would make a wonderful epic poem if he remembered it when he awoke.  
  
"Well I wouldn't say love so much as hate. Buffy hates Spike." Xander said.  
  
"Xander, you're really not helping."  
  
"What? It's true, Spike is obsessed with Buffy but she could care less about him."  
  
The Scoobies gasped when they saw William eyes narrow in anguish. Why must they stare at him so? Couldn't they see he was upset? Dawn walked over to Willow, "that's weird, that's what Spike looks like when he's angry. I was kinda forgetting that he was Spike, or will be, or whatever. But that was too weird. Ugh."  
  
"I second that ugh," Willow said.  
  
"I third it," Xander continued. "But it would be creepier if he took a cigarette out of his coat and said something sarcastic."  
  
Giles stepped out of the employee restroom oblivious to the conversation before hand. "William, do you know Latin and ancient Greek?"  
  
"Of course, Sir, what type of education would I have if I could not? Basic fluency is required for entrance to Oxford."  
  
"What modern languages do you know?" The older one sighed.  
  
"Well besides English, I'm fluent in French and Italian."  
  
Giles took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "He's never raised a bloody hand to help us with translation!" He looked up at the young man. "Would you mind helping these young ladies," he pointed to Tara and Willow, "translate some spells that would help you get home?"  
  
"I would be delighted to help. Considering how my other self is a champion, I will endeavor to lighten his burden and attempt to translate whatever I can."  
  
"Wonderful," Giles commented dryly, letting the comment slide.  
  
The phone rang and Giles picked it up. "Good Evening, Magic Box. How can I help you? Oh, yes, no he's fine. We'll take him to your house. I'm sure he'll be fine. Yes, yes." After he hung up he turned to the group. "That was Buffy, she said that we should take William to her house. He can spend the night on the couch in the living room. Apparently she had to talk Spike out of having William stay in his crypt."  
  
Meanwhile, William was walking over the telephone, but before he could touch it he heard what Mr. Giles was saying. "Crypt?"  
  
"That's just slang for a home, you know like crib." Dawn said quickly. William was confused, crib? But he dropped the subject. 


	3. chapter 3

Back to Humanity Chapter 3  
  
By Kalifower  
  
Disclaimer: All the characters and settings and everything else is purely owned by Joss and Co.  
  
Comments: This takes place somewhere in the beginning of season 6. After Life Serial but before the musical. The Troika decide to mess with Spike but their plans go haywire. Don't you just love the way the Evil Trio can cause so much trouble, so badly?  
  
  
  
He had spent most of the morning researching with Tara and Willow. Dawn hadn't actually seen any of the research. It had really just been beginning when she left for school. Grabbing her lunch that Buffy packed, she wondered if anyone else in the whole school ever had thoughts like hers. She knew they had the normal teenage thoughts, like "my parents suck," and "I'm the ugliest person in the world, no one will ever date me!" But did they have thoughts about the two lesbian witches studying how to send the pre-vamp Spike back in time? She thought probably not, but it was the Hellmouth, so who knew? She tried not to think about Spike and William and everything while she was at school, but honestly, it was more interesting than trig. She hoped that she could spend some time with William alone, hanging out. She figured that he would need a babysitter if he ever stopped researching and she was the perfect person to do that. Plus, it would be fun to be the babysitter instead of the babysat for once.  
  
Three people sat at the dinning room table when Dawn came home. Willow was grinning from ear to ear. "What's with the big smiles?"  
  
"Miss Rosenberg, Miss McClay and I have figured out how to send me back to my time."  
  
Dawn smiled at the formality of his speech. It was so much fodder to tease Spike about when William was gone. He had been such a cute dork when he was human. "That's great!" She bounced over to him and stopped short, frowning. "Uh, not that I want you gone or anything. I just mean, you must be excited to get home." She hadn't meant to bound up to him, but she was excited about the whole situation and she bounced when she was happy. William looked somewhat taken back by her perkiness, but smiled at her.  
  
"Yes, I am looking forward to going home. Everything is more confusing here then I could ever imagine. I feel very out of sorts." Dawn blinked a few times, it really was going to take some getting used to his speech, but if she spent some time with him, she could get used to it.  
  
"Willow, can I take William out with me today? This afternoon. It's safe here in the daytime and stuff, I could take him to the park or the Espresso Pump or something."  
  
"Well.considering all the time paradoxes we've already created I don't think walking around with William will do any more damage." She paused. "Of course, now that I said that we're all gonna to die because the universe collapsed on itself, but yeah, go out. Have fun. Tara and I will put the finishing touches on the spell preparation. He couldn't have helped with that anyway."  
  
"Cool!" She grabbed William's hand and yanked him upstairs. "Just let me put my school stuff away and we'll go out. I'll take you to the Espresso Pump and offer you the marvels of modern coffee. Oh, except you're English, do you guys drink coffee? Then we can go to the park or something. I'd take you to the Bronze, but it's kinda closed in the daytime and I doubt they'd let you go with me at night." She kept dragging him down the hallway and into her room. She threw her bag down on the bed and it landed with a heavy thud. She got out her wallet from the front pocket and put in her small purse she had stolen from Hot Topic at the mall a few weeks ago. It was black and had a cute picture of a pink kitty on it. She liked the girly semi-punk look of it, and she'd thought Spike would approve of it. He had said something non-committal about it being nice and matching her clothes, but his voice had been warm. It was right before Buffy had come back, when Spike still acknowledged her existence. Since then both Buffy and Spike had been ignoring her, maybe William wouldn't.  
  
She paused when she caught the uncomfortable expression on his face. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Uh, uh, uh." he stammered.  
  
A look of comprehension spread across her face. "You're uncomfortable because you're in my room, right?" He nodded a little. "That is so cool. It's like all those Masterpiece Theaters that I used to watch with Mom. Where everyone is so formal and guys can't be left alone with girls or everyone would think she was a ho." Her eyes widened in mock horror. "You don't think I'm a ho, do you?"  
  
"I'm not exactly sure what a 'ho' is, but I am a bit uncomfortable being alone in young girls bedroom with her. It is unseemly."  
  
"We can just leave, I've got everything I need."  
  
Grabbing her arm in his, he gestured with his other hand sweeping it in front of them. "Let us be away then." Dawn giggled as they walked out the door. She couldn't believe Spike, or William, was acting silly.  
  
The sun was shinning and Sunnydale was looking very southern California, warm and dry. The hills in the distance were still brown and the air was warm and windy from the Santa Anna winds blowing in from the desert. Dawn knew that she wasn't with Spike, and that William was human, but it hadn't sunk in exactly what that meant until she saw him in the sunlight. Sure, she'd seen Spike in the sunlight plenty of times, usually he was covered in a blanket and parts of him were on fire. But William was walking around and nothing about the sun bothered him. He wasn't on fire; in fact, he faced the sun and let it warm his body. She realized she was staring and began to drag William down the sidewalk.  
  
"America is quite beautiful and strange. It's so warm here."  
  
"I've never been to England, but I've heard that it's cold and rainy a lot. That's gotta suck."  
  
"I don't think it.sucks," he dragged out the foreign sounding word. "I don't mind the gray weather, but I prefer this sun. It's quite wonderful."  
  
"So you enjoy being here? With me?"  
  
If William was surprised by the emotions playing below the surface of the questions he didn't show it. He did however, turn to face her and said, "Of course, you are one of the few people here who has shown me real kindness. I don't except much from others, so I was pleased that anyone cared."  
  
Dawn had seen the same expression on Spike's face a few times this summer and hadn't been able to name it, but with William's words she knew it was loneliness. "I don't have many friends," he continued, "but it warms me to see that S-Spike has some."  
  
"I know how that feels, which is why Spike and I get along so well. He doesn't have too many either, some demons and me."  
  
"I'm glad that he has you. You seem a very kind and generous young lady, much like my sister. I do not find it difficult to believe that he would like you and want to protect you, since he is a champion. But what of the others? Surely, if he helps them he is friends with them."  
  
She frowned. "It's kinda complicated. I mean sometimes they like him, but you know, or actually you don't know. He did some bad stuff in the past. To them too."  
  
"They mentioned that last night, that I had done some horrible things. I just can't believe that I could commit horrible crimes. I am a good man."  
  
"I know and in some ways so is Spike, but he has stuff going on. The same things that make him so strong, makes it hard for him not to want to hurt things. It's like the nature of what he is or something."  
  
"Is it because he is a monster? I surmised as much from the conversation last night."  
  
"Technically he's not a monster so much as a vampire. Like Dracula. And he has this thing, a chip, in his head now, and it makes him better"  
  
"Dracula? A chip?"  
  
"You know, the book, not the actual guy. Wasn't it written before 1878? I thought it might have been. Oh, well." She shrugged.  
  
William looked confused and she realized he wore that expression a lot, tons more than Spike did. That must be 100 years of lag time did to a person. She slowed her pace as they neared the Espresso Pump. Toasted coffee beans and chocolate filled the air. Dawn loved that smell; she was defiantly trying to build up the coffee-drinking mystique. She had a fantasy about her and some coffee, a beret and Jackson from English. She shook her head, but she was with William and had to focus.  
  
"I'm confused by this whole affair." He started. "I must admit this whole situation seems a dream to my mind."  
  
"First, zuh? Second, um.there is no second. What does that mean?"  
  
"I mean, that I feel like this is a dream. This can't be real, none of this. It's all my fevered mind, confusing me."  
  
"Ohhh, is that all. That happens to everyone when they first learn about the Hellmouth. No one believes that it's real." She turned to the barrista, "one mocha and one earl gray tea."  
  
William managed to blush from embarrassment and look unconvinced at the same time. "Miss Dawn, I do not have the money to pay for that."  
  
"It's the 21st century now, I can pay, really. And please call me Dawn, that Miss thing is weird." She scanned the room for a few moments before grabbing a small table with two seats. "Speaking of, how is the 21st century? I mean, I noticed a lack of freak out about pretty much everything."  
  
"There are strange things all around me, but it all seems like variations on what I already know from home." Looking as a woman walked by with an out-dated hankie shirt and hip huggers, he blushed and continued, "Although, some of the clothing is rather scandalous. Mostly, what I find difficult is the language. It is so different here. I find it difficult to understand what people are saying."  
  
"Yeah, totally."  
  
He shook his head. "I don't seem to understand this place's basic assumptions. You speak nonsense half the time. Which is somewhat excusable, it is a different country, and perhaps even a different time. And if it is a different time then I'm still alive, because I was turned into some murdering monster and now for some reason I'm no longer evil, but have chosen the path of the hero. It all makes no sense. If this isn't a dream I think I will go mad." As he spoke, William's voice had been rising; he had stood up and began pacing around their little table.  
  
"Calm down! Really, people are looking." Dawn waved frantically at his abandoned seat. Lowering her voice, she continued. "Most people don't know about vampires and other monsters here either, they don't want to know. It was the same in your time. But it's true. Really."  
  
William sat down and glared into his tea for a few minutes. Suddenly, he slammed it back and stood up again. "I need to move about and walk around. My head feels muddled and clumsy." Dawn took another sip of her coffee and felt her arm be grabbed by William. Apparently, sudden changes in temper were not a Spike thing only. "Where is the park that you mentioned earlier, perhaps walking someplace with a garden would help calm my mind."  
  
He walked fast and she was about to have to run just to keep up with him. "Hey, you don't know where you're going. I'm the one who knows were the park is. So calm down, and walk a little slower."  
  
He turned sharply to her with a Spike-like scowl on his face, but when he saw exasperated face he smiled. "I'm sorry Miss.er, uh, Dawn. I don't know what came over me to act so rudely and rashly. I feel as if there is nothing I can do and that I'm trapped. I've never done well with that feeling. I almost always walk out of where I am, determined to catch some fresh air and be with my thoughts. My Mother and Father, have always said it was one of my largest faults and would get me in trouble some day."  
  
"No problem-o.and Spike does it too, so I don't think you ever get over it." She quickened her pace as she remembered something. "Spike likes these English roses in the park. He told me so this summer. I bet you'll like them too. We've got a little time before sunset. We can just go over to the Magic Box after the park. I bet I can give you a tour or something. It's pretty cool."  
  
Andrew collapsed holding on to his staff. He was exhausted from the demon raising.  
  
"Perfect," Warren said.  
  
  
  
That evening everyone reconvened in the Magic Box. Dawn was giving William a tour of the shop. Enjoying the continued role of babysitter. The rest of the group was hanging around the counter. Spike hadn't shown up yet.  
  
"But I'll think he'll be here soon. He really didn't like the idea of William walking around unsupervised. I pointed out that we weren't going to let him go anywhere with out someone with him, but Spike just said that's exactly what he meant."  
  
"I'm not surprised," Willow said. "Having a double of you walking around isn't a barrel o' fun." Buffy and Xander nodded in agreement. "William was really helpful today, though."  
  
"Yeah. He's really good with translation. He can just study for hours." Tara smiled. "He even gave Willow a run for her money."  
  
The bell over the front door rang and Spike walked over to the counter tense and to the point, "Did you find out anything important? Anything that would send him home, Red?"  
  
"Well yeah, it looks like it'll be easy. We need to so the final preparations, but the spell it's self is easy."  
  
"And hello to you too, Mr. Late-Vampire. Hey, why didn't you ever tell us you could help us research?" Xander said.  
  
Spike shrugged trying to assume a relaxed pose resting on the counter. "Readin', writin' and studyin' are not exactly highly prized job qualifications for a vamp. As for helping you, well that's only been for the last few months, hasn't it? Before that I would have loved a Big Bad ending for everyone." He paused and realized that he needed to backpedal. "Not that I wouldn't still love for you all to be maimed to death. Gah, I'm going to go smoke." He walked right out again.  
  
"Jeez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the crypt." Xander said. He glanced over at Dawn and William. "He seems to really like Dawn, just like Spike."  
  
"They went out this afternoon. I think she liked the attention. He told me that she reminded him of his younger sister, Sarah." Dawn was holding up a statue of Inanna and William was laughing.  
  
A sudden giant crash made the Scoobies look to the back of the shop. The door to the training room had been ripped off its hinges and crashed to the ground. A huge green monster had broken down the door to the training room and was heading towards William and Dawn. It was built like a very large football player but covered in fur and had weird yellow, glowing eyes.  
  
"My store!" Anya yelled.  
  
"Dawn!" Buffy yelled. Before she could move William jumped in front of Dawn and grabbed one of the swords that was lying near him on the table waiting, to be polished.  
  
"Hey, those are for retail!" Anya said to William. "If you ruin it, you pay for it."  
  
He didn't seem totally unused to holding a sword, but when he tried to thrust at the monster it brushed him aside and he smacked into bookshelf.  
  
Spike heard the shouting and threw his cigarette to the ground. He ran in the door and over to the monster just as William was knocked down. Buffy reached for the monster and punched it hard. The Gramble demon was shaken and turned its rage on the Slayer. She asked the room, "how do I kill it?"  
  
Spike jumped up on its back and looked right in Buffy's eyes, "like this, love." With one swift movement he broke the monsters neck. He hopped off as the demon fell to the ground and melted into a thick pile of purple goo with bits of green hair in it. It smelled like rotten eggs.  
  
"Oh, gross. Why can't they all go poof like vamps?" Buffy complained.  
  
Anya moved towards the back room and grabbed a mop. She handed it to Buffy, "you slay it you get to clean it up."  
  
"But Spike killed it."  
  
"And if I thought I could get him to clean it up then I would, but you're a close second."  
  
"Don't worry Buffy, we'll help." Willow walked over. "Ewwww, monster ick."  
  
Spike walked over to his double who was still slumped on the floor by the bookshelf. He could hear a steady pulse and the breathing was solid. Nothing was hurt too much.  
  
Buffy looked over at the pair, "Thank you, uh, both. No really, you helped a lot." She looked at Spike, "and now you get to help me clean up monster goo."  
  
"Oi! I got to take care of my self here. You know, make sure he's not injured or anything."  
  
William looked up at Spike and Buffy, he cocked his head slightly and grinned, "oh, no I feel fine, just a tad winded. I wouldn't want to get in your way and interfere with you helping the lady."  
  
"Great, see Spike, he's fine. Now help clean up."  
  
"Cheeky bugger, wasn't I?" He looked at the Slayer, "Am I always that annoying?"  
  
  
  
  
  
"Damn it. Every time we get close to really getting the Slayer, she always manages to save the day. How does she do it?" Warren asked. The camera had been knocked over the previous night and the whole fight had been blurry and hard to watch, but he knew that they had killed the demon.  
  
"It was your fault, that demon wasn't strong enough." Jonathan said turning to Andrew. He picked up a slender piece of dyed wood covered in engravings. "This is a stupid shaman's stick!"  
  
"Stop touching my magic wood!" Andrew said as he ran over to Jonathan. The other two smirked at the entendre. But Andrew grabbed the smaller man and pulled him into a headlock. "If your spell had done anything then the demon I conjured would have been enough. It's all your fault."  
  
"It's both of your fault." Warren said, still half-laughing from the "magic wood" comment, he ran over and tackled them both. They wrestled on the floor. Since none of them actually knew anything about fighting most of the fight amounted to rolling around on top of each other.  
  
Andrew finally managed to grab the shaman's stick away from Jonathan. He jumped up from the scuffle on the floor triumphantly and walked over to his corner of the basement. Jonathan was lying on the floor gulping for breath and Warren was standing up.  
  
"Okay, Slayer, you've won this battle, but not the war."  
  
"Warren? How can we win the war if we keep losing all the battles?"  
  
"Shut up, Andrew."  
  
"But..."  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
  
  
"There have been too many weird occurrences lately. I wonder if they're all connected to that black van that we saw a couple days ago. Repeating hours, diamond eating ice monsters, and lots of demon attacks. Way weird. I hate doing research, but maybe we should start. Well, after we send William home, that's gotta happen first." Buffy was beginning to babble so she decided to stop. Turing to Tara she said, "How is he?"  
  
Tara, who had been checking William for injuries, looked at Buffy, "he's not bad, but he does have a fever. I'm pretty sure that it has to do more with the sickness from before then the fight we just had."  
  
"I'm fine, just a little shaken from the fight." William said and tried to stand up, and failed spectacularly as he fell down beside Tara. "I think I'll just sit here for awhile."  
  
"Well you need to rest so that you'll be okay when we do the spell to get you home." Tara smiled at William.  
  
"Which means there's a way to send him home." Spike tried to scowl and build up his anger like armor; instead he came across as tired and sad.  
  
Willow ignored Spike and walked over to her girlfriend and pulled gently at her arm. "Tara, could you help me with the spell?"  
  
"Sure.hold on." she looked up and Willow nodded.  
  
She continued. "Oh, I know, Spike can take care of him. He knows what William needs better then any one else here does." She smiled at Spike.  
  
He rolled his eyes but Spike didn't fight the suggestion. He just went over the younger version of himself and stood there awkwardly. "Is there anything you need, mate?"  
  
"You've been ignoring me the whole time I've been here. Why are you so pained to have me here, am I really that bad?" His voice wavered. Everything just piled on top of itself. First he had been in a strange place with even more strange people. Then he had found his doppelganger there too, but the whole time he had been here Spike had not said more then a few words with him. He had wanted to ask so many questions. At least last night he had acted more friendly.  
  
Spike was annoyed that William was asking stupid personal questions in front of the people who could use it against him later. "You and I, we're very different. Like day and night."  
  
"We're not so different. They way you dress and talk have changed, but that makes some sense. But the way you walk, they way you are friends with Miss Dawn. I even see it in you when you look at Miss Summers. You look at her like I look at Miss Add."  
  
"Don't say her name!" With the outburst everyone in the shop looked towards Spike and William. "She was a cruel, heartless bitch and deserved all the horrible things that happened to her."  
  
"No!" William's eyes went wide with horror. He knew that Spike was a monster, a vampire, but the thought that he might have hurt Miss Addams was more then he could bear. What if he had hurt his Mother, or Sarah?  
  
"Shut up, you stupid git!" He crouched next to his counterpart, his body taut and his face scowling, and whispered in his ears, "I never hurt her, I wasn't interested in her after I met Dru. She hurt herself plenty. She was stupid and paid the price for it." William blinked in surprise. He thought that Spike had wanted to hurt him, but the voice was soft and full of pain.  
  
"Spike, stop scaring yourself." Xander said. "That sentence was just not right."  
  
Tara walked over to William trying to diffuse the situation. "We're almost ready. So you can go over to the center of the circle if you want." He looked somewhat grateful, which she expected, but there was hesitancy in his face, like he wanted to speak to Spike more.  
  
She walked William over into the middle of a circle of yellow candles. The witches motioned the rest to join hands around the outside of the circle. The next fifteen minutes were filled with silence as Tara and Willow began chanting and casting the protective circle. Then when Willow raised her hands and clapped three times saying, "William, by Mercury and Chronos, go back to where you came from, safe and unharmed." There was a popping noise and then William wasn't standing in the circle.  
  
"That was it?" Spike said. "I thought there would be a lot more pain considering how fun it was when he came here."  
  
"Oh, no, the pain was because the spell was using you as a focal point to bring him from the past, but he wanted to be back in his time. It was just an artificial bubble that was keeping him here; it was really easy to get him back."  
  
Dropping his hands and leaving the circle Spike decided that was a good moment to leave. Hopefully they would all forget that this ever happened. Figuring this was the Hellmouth there would be some other baddie in a week or so to let everyone forget about this. He just had to lay low until then.  
  
  
  
William woke up with a dreadful headache. He felt like he had just been in a fight and his fever was returning. He glanced around and looked for Sarah. Hadn't they just been out here together? It seemed like it was a day or so ago, or just last minute he wasn't sure. All he knew was that he had a very curious dream. He had been in the future, one where people dressed oddly and talked inappropriately. He had been there in the future; he was a monster and a man trapped in the same body. He shook his head. It had just been a dream, nothing more. It had to be, because nothing else made any sense.  
  
"William, oh, you're awake!" He heard Sarah yell as she ran over the small knoll towards him. Behind her were Logan and Donald, some of the field servants.  
  
The two men lifted William up from his sitting position. He tried to walk and failed, but he wouldn't let them carry him if he could help it. Which he realized he couldn't when his knees gave out on him and he fell down to the ground. He would have been embarrassed, but he was losing consciousness. Logan and Donald lifted the small man up and began the walk back to the mansion. Sarah was looking at her brother with large brown eyes.  
  
"He'll be alright, won't he?"  
  
"He'll be fine, Miss." Logan said. With that they set out to get to the manor. Turning to the little girl he continued, "Why don't you get the Doctor?" With that Sarah ran on towards the manor.  
  
He wasn't sulking or brooding he decided. It would be too much like Angelus after the soul if he was doing that. He was just walking and thinking. That was all. It wasn't like he was still that bespeckled poet that had just been sent home. Bespeckled poet? No, he was not. He had stopped trying to be him over a century ago. He had left poems and romantic views of the world behind when he accepted what Dru had to offer him. The only respect he had ever had was from being Spike, the Scourge of Europe, and Slayer of Slayers. Except that most of the Scoobies had respected William, even if he was a geek, and they all still hated Spike. So where did that leave him? All that git had done was prove that he wasn't man enough for the Scoobies and the Slayer, but he wasn't monster enough to be the Big Bad.  
  
He heard a thump and a muffled scream coming from behind the crypt to his left. Well a fight might be better then the non-brooding he was currently engaged in. He ran over to the noise. It was some stupid chit who looked like she had decided to walk alone through the graveyard at night. Part of him said just to leave her there to the fate she deserved, but he wanted a fight, and there was another smaller part of him that said he shouldn't.  
  
"You know I hate it when other people kill in my cemetery, it's just rude."  
  
They fledgling growled at Spike, it wouldn't be much of a fight, but never look a gift horse in the mouth. He reached over and punched the vamp on the face. It's head snapped back and it let go of the girl. "Run" he said, "Get to your house and don't ever go out alone at night, even the Bit knows that." The young one was on its feet. Spike knocked him down with a kick to the chest and charged the fledging as it got up again. The two were on the ground and rolling around. The younger one at least knew to take pot shots in the kidneys. Spike was somewhat pleased, but he was getting impatient. He grabbed a stake from the lining of his coat and pushed it through the young vamp's chest.  
  
Spike stood up and dusted himself off. It was the worst part of killing vamps: all that dust. But at least it wasn't it one of the slimy demons, it was so hard to clean that stuff out of leather. Not to mention cleaning his hair, when he had no plumbing in his crypt.  
  
He walked over to his crypt, which was mercifully close. He tossed his duster to the couch and thought about pouring himself some bourbon. He thought better of it and skipped the glass altogether. Feeling the hot, rich flame feed itself down his throat to his belly already made him feel a bit better. He smelled the alcohol wafting off the top of the bottle and smiled. His father and brother had both enjoyed bourbon. He shook his head and took another swig. Apparently, getting reacquainted with his human side had made him nostalgic. He decided that wasn't all bad, at least in the privacy of his crypt. He went downstairs and walked over to his tiny bookshelf. He reached down and picked up an old copy of On the Road. He had stolen it out of a library about 30 years ago, somewhere in New York. Kerouac was a poet who could fight and drink with the best of 'em. Somehow that was very appealing to him right now. He sat down on a small slab of stone and began reading it again. 


End file.
